Don't forget our boy Grover Norquist!

Headline in today's Washington Post:

"Nonprofit Groups Funneled Money For Abramoff"
Funds Flowed to Lobbying Campaigns
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/24/AR2006062401080.html

The article is about Abramoff using non-profits such as Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, Christian Coalition, the National Center for Public Policy Research, and of course Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, to launder GOP money.

Then I remembered a note I keep in my files. Certainly not a first for Grover!

====================================
"An ongoing court case has revealed documents which show that Norquist has reached across the nation into Oregon and is illegally impacting campaign finance in that state as well. Since 1996, Oregonians with misplaced loyalties have sent money to Norquist's group in Washington. Norquist then sent a million dollars to (Bill) Sizemore's Oregon Taxpayers United political action committee.

"Thus, Norquist laundered money for these Oregonian donors to cover the fact that they were breaking Oregon law. Although Oregon does not limit the size of a contribution, it does require that ALL contributors must be individually named. By sending money to Norquist, these Oregonians and their million were covered and made invisible by Norquist to Oregon officials. Sizemore simply showed the million, the entire amount according to canceled checks, as a "contribution" from Norquist's taxpayer group.

"The questions one must ask -- especially as a prosecutor, and especially armed with the information Senator Levin compiled on Norquist -- are, "Where the hell is all this money coming from? And why would it all go to Norquist who hasn't been at all effective in carrying out his mission?"

"The answer, it seems clear to me and hundred of other Norquist watchers, it that Norquist is operating an illegal laundry for campaign money that would otherwise be felonious contributions to candidates and issue campaigns either under state or federal law.

"An Oregon Department of Justice brief calls the arrangement between Norquist and Sizemore "a laundering scheme" to conceal the identity of donors supporting Sizemore's organization. Not revealing the names of donors who laundered their contributions through Norquist is a class C felony in Oregon."

Source is American Politics Journal, December 9, 2002
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20021209Koop.html

:kick:

would just have to get used to it. (I'm playing on the quote by Norquist that the Democrats were like "castrated dogs. They are permanently out of power and are going to have to get used to that.")
(paraphrase)